Expectancy Violations Theory

When watching the Grammy Awards show the other night, I started to notice something about Ryan Secrest. He was very personable and energetic while interviewing. However, as he was interviewing people, his microphone would inch closer to their face, and Ryan would inch as well. I remember distinctly John Mayer taking a few steps back when Ryan interrogated John about Jessica Simpson. I started to wonder if it was the subject matter that made John shy away, or maybe it was the Expectancy Violations Theory at work.

Once I noticed that John was not the only one moving further away from Ryan, I started to think about the three core concepts of EVT. All of the relationship factors play a role in this situation. The familiarity of the red carpet interviews, relative status of celebrity and similarities between awards shows and how they are conducted. John and other music artists had formed certain expectations about the evening. The context factor in this situation is apparent, the media and entertainment industry form their own culture. However, what this country sets as cultural norms also applies. In this case, Ryan was too close for comfort in Hollywood and to the average viewer. Furthermore, Ryan has been a host of many shows, and was also on radio. His communicator characteristics are very polished. He is professional, entertaining, and too involved to realize his proximity towards others. The violation valence in these encounters is ambiguous. I feel this is the case because not one celebrity was hostile towards Ryan, and it was an unexpected interaction that they dismissed easily.

Overall, the reward valence was positive. Even though Ryan had proxemic violations, the artists were unsure how to interpret them. I continued to watch as the night progressed, and found something of interest happen. Ryan was holding a microphone, and had also provided one for his celebrity.